Fleet Defense Fighters in The United States Navy
In the 1950s, the United States Navy led an unsuccessful F6D Missileer project. Later it launched the development of a large F-111B fleet air defense fighter, but this project was cancelled too. Finally, the role was assigned to the F-14 Tomcat, carrying AIM-54 Phoenix missiles. This aircraft was well-capable of fighter-to-fighter combat, as well as air interdiction missions, so it does not exactly fit the "pure" interceptor niche. Both the fighter and the missile were retired in 2006.
Read more about this topic: Interceptor Aircraft
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sits a fleet of small black ships,
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their spars like burned matchsticks.”
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